WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed three executive orders to reduce crime and promote public safety.
The first order aimed at tackling transnational criminal organizations and preventing international trafficking. It called on the administration to take a comprehensive and decisive approach required to dismantle these organized crime syndicates and restore safety for the American people.
The order directed the executive branch to "strengthen enforcement of federal law in order to thwart transnational criminal organizations and subsidiary organizations."
Trump then signed an order asking the attorney general to set up a task force on crime reduction and public safety which is designated to develope "strategies to reduce crime, including, in particular, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime."
"Many communities across the nation are suffering from high rates of violent crime," the order said.
Trump has on Jan. 24 criticized the city of Chicago for its high homicide rates, tweeting "if Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the feds!"
The third order sought to clamp down on violence against law enforcement officers, calling for new legislation that "define new federal crimes and increase penalties for existing federal crimes, in order to prevent violence against federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement officers."
The three latest documents has brought the total number of executive orders signed by Trump to 11. Some of the previous ones, including one to ban the entry of citizens from seven Mideast and North African countries, drew wide controversy.